Wait no longer! 4th Grade is here! Check out this FREE Common Core Math Guide that has specific examples for each standard, the learning objective (I Can Statement), and examples of assessment for mastery, emerging, and novice!Want a different grade? Here is what has been published so farKindergartenFirst GradeSecond GradeThird GradeGrades 5-8 Coming soon! Feel free to pin to help others find this FREE resource!*** This guide was compiled with Carl Jones, Karen Smith, and Virginia McClain ***Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter

I seriously LOVE these guides! We worked so hard to be sure that the standards are presented in an easy to read, easy to understand and easy to use way. :-) The guide has the specific standards listed with the I Can Statement and has examples of assessments for mastery, emerging and novice learners.

Please share the goodness- pin this post, e-mail the link to this post, and tweet away! :-)

The second grade math common core guide is ready!!! Kindergarten and First Grade have been released and grades 3-8 is coming soon! Check back for more. This guide has it all! The standards, I Can Statements, Examples, Assessment Guides. Best of all this is a free resource! Want the rest? Subscribe to the posts on the right hand side! Ready for even more goodies? Subscribe to our newsletter below! Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter

It's here! The First Grade Math Common Core Guide is here and ready for download! This guide breaks down the the learning standards in an easy to understand way. It has the learning standards, I Can Statements, Assessments (Mastery, Emerging, and Novice) and specific examples of what each standard means. Parents as well as teachers have loved these guides. :-) Stay tuned: Grades 2-8 coming in the next few days! Subscribe so you don't miss a single post!

**** This guide and the other grade level guides were created by myself, Karen Smith, Carl Jones, and Virginia McClain ****

This guide to Math Common Core is sure to please all Kindergarten teachers. It features specific examples for each standard, a learning target (I Can Statement) for each standard AND an three examples of assessment for every standard. Did I mention that this is a FREE guide?

Feel free to share the link to this post with all of your favorite Kindergarten teachers and parents! This is the first post in an upcoming series of posts for each grade level! Check back for more, or better yet subscribe, follow, and share! Have a great day!

**** This guide and the other grade level guides were created by myself, Karen Smith, Carl Jones, and Virginia McClain ****

Life is so short. Make it worth it. Make a difference. Do what matters and forget the rest. Make the most of your time here. Learn something and teach it to others. Life is too short.Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter

Video

CK-12Free access to high-quality, customizable educational content in multiple modalities suited to multiple student learning styles and levels, will allow teachers, students and others to innovate and experiment with new models of learning. CK-12 helps students and teachers alike by enabling rapid customization and experimentation of teaching and learning styles.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids site gives students a great introduction to music history and the opportunity to hear and learn about the instruments of the orchestra.

The San Francisco Orchestra Kids site provides students with the opportunity to experiment with music composition. The basic elements of music (tempo, rhythm, pitch, harmony, and timbre) are introduced in a interactive environment.

This may just be may new favorite Ted Talk- and that is getting to be an increasingly difficult title to earn. :-) It only takes 20 hours of practicing something to over come the "learning curve" that comes down to 45 minutes everyday for one month. What is it that you want to learn?

Technology has the power to take a mediocre lesson and make it jaw dropping. To take an uninterested student and get them involved and excited. Technology can change EVERYTHING. However, it is so important for us to keep the focus on the learning, on the engagement, on the skills and the take away. We need to only incorporate technology where it enhances the learning, when it breaks down barriers and takes learning to a new level. We do not want to have the focus of any lesson to be the use of technology. If you objective for the day is to "make a Prezi" you are sadly missing the boat. We need to focus on the learning at hand and look at ways where the technology can bring your teaching to life.

The College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing

The Production and Distribution of Writing

6. Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others

6-12

6. Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others

When I read this statement the tool that stands out (actually, it is more like standing on the roof top yelling its name!) is Google Apps for Education, Google Docs in particular. Google Docs allows you to collaborate with up to 50 people at one time and share your document with up to 200 other collaborators. When you share you can designate if you are giving editing rights, commenting rights, or just viewing rights. This tool is in the cloud and is a free. That means that as long as you have the internet, you are seeing the same thing as all of your classmates- as Google always gives you the latest version of the software. It evens the playing field between your wealthiest student and your poorest student. Google Docs keeps track of every single revision made on the documents- so you can look back at any time and see who contributed, what they wrote, and at what time. You are also able to restore the document at any time. AMAZING!

With the integration of Google Hangouts, you can "hangout" with up to 9 different people and work on the same document from 9 different locations all while seeing their face and hearing their voices.

Check out these links for more information on Google Apps for Education. But keep in mind, it isn't the tool that we need to focus on, it is the learning, the collaboration and the empowerment that matters.

Level It Books- Scan the barcode of the book and you will be given the Lexile score among other information

iBooks- Great source of digital text, particularly books in the Gutenberg Project. You are able to book mark, highlight, add notes, find specific words, change text size, have words read aloud and define words.

Ohio Specific Resources

INFOhio Common Core Toolkit- Tools outlined here require a password that is available to every public school student and teacher in Ohio. Contact your technology coordinator or librarian for the password.

Videos

Watch, Know, Learn. Videos from all over the web compiled in one place. The videos are teacher approved and rated then compiled and sorted by grade level and common core standard. AMAZING! They also have videos for many of the text exemplars!

Lakeshore is giving away an interactive game of your choice from those listed below for FREE! Well, in exchange for signing up for their e-mail address. Nevertheless, these games are AMAZING! Click on the pictures below to check them out! Be sure to pin this post to help spread the word!

Fire up your printer- This is an AMAZING Resource! Allan Carrington has taken Bloom's Taxonomy to the next level. He has created this iPad Wheel that has 62 different apps sorted by Bloom's Taxonomy, it even has action verbs and activities linked for each activity. Kathy Shrock, laid the foundation work for this- so it has to be good!

This is already in printable format so you will want to print it and hang it somewhere prominent. Yes, it is that important. Here is a direct link to the printable format. Enjoy!

The iPad is a device that is second to none when it comes to use in the special education classroom. Dictation, Speech Selection, Guided Access, and Word Completion are built into the device itself without downloading the first app. Today's presentation and resources focus on how to keep a student with special needs (or any student!) focused on their learning and what they are creating instead of their shortcomings.

Students with special needs are using iPads, equipped with software called Proloquo2go, to communicate with their teachers and boost learning. It's already having major benefits for kids and teachers.

What are your favorite apps in the Special Education classroom? Do you have any accessibility features that you love? Let me know in the comments below!Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter

The iPad is a tool that can transform a classroom. But, it isn't about the tool as much as it is about the teaching. This presentation will help to show how an iPad can be incorporated into your classroom with ease. Keep in mind however, teaching and learning are the most important aspect of incorporating technology. You will see some amazing "life changing" apps but please use them in your classroom to help your students learn and you to teach. Not just to say you are using an iPad!

In February of last year, I was able to spend two days with top notch Microsoft Trainers in the Microsoft Office in Detroit. During these two days I learned about many programs and Microsoft Infinitives in the classroom. For me, the most impressive aspects was the free resources offered through the Partners in Learning Network.

Once you become a member, you have access to over 20 of Microsoft's most popular education tools and teacher resources- all in one place. Best part of all, they are all free!

Here's the list of the included free programs: (I have highlighted my favorites!)

Create

Windows Live Movie Maker

Windows Live Photo Gallery

Microsoft Photosynth

Microsoft AutoCollage

Microsoft Songsmith

Microsoft Kodu Game Lab

Collaborate

Microsoft Office Web Apps

Windows Live SkyDrive

Microsoft Docs for Facebook

Windows Live Messenger

Microsoft Security Essentials

Bing Translator

Research & Study

Bing

Microsoft Office Ribbon Hero

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0

Microsoft Chemistry Add-in for Word

Microsoft Academic Search

Microsoft Worldwide Telescope

Teach

Innovative Teacher Toolkit

Microsoft Education Math Worksheet Generator

Office Add-in for Moodle

Getting Started Guides & How-to Videos

Microsoft Digital Literacy

Microsoft Mouse Mischief

Here is a link to the One Note file that Microsoft shared with the Innovative Educators filled with guides, tools, searching tips and more. This thing is loaded, it is unbelievable actually!

Creating a Classroom Website was the single most important thing that opened my eyes to the power of technology in education. I started my very first website 6 years ago... it seems so long ago now. I was the first teacher in my district to get a classroom website- and many of my co-teachers thought it was pointless but I did it anyway. It started small, and I wasn't sure if it would be used. I stumbled upon Google Sites and that was my very first exposure to Google Apps for Education- although at the time, I had no idea what that was! 6 years later I feel that having a classroom website is as important as ever. With student connected at home and often times searching for things to do online- why not give them a push in the right direction. I love that I can share a game or activity that we did during the day and then students are so excited to share with their parents- while practicing and reinforcing what was learned. I am in love with Google Sites. It is super simple to create, share, and integrate Google Tools into the site. I love that you can embed your classroom calendar and that students and parents can download the calendar to their phone. I love that the ability to embed Picasa slideshows and being able to snap pictures and load them to the site automatically. I know that there are other programs out there, but Google Sites has my heart. Deciding what to put on a classroom site is often times half of the battle of getting something up and running. To help with this, I have created a Classroom Website Planning Guide- This guide has many different ideas and questions to help get the ideas flowing. Take a look- and please give me any feedback that you may have, especially if something needs to be added!

If you plan to use Google Sites, here is my site that I use in many of my trainings. Below is links from Google's Training Center for each section of Google Sites.

For me, Google Apps for Education is one of the most exciting things happening in the edtech world. It is changing and evolving daily- leaving us with unlimited opportunities to incorporate technology into the classroom. Embedded below is my presentation from the Google Apps for Education Class and here is a link to a site that features ideas for integration.

One major component of incorporating Google Apps successfully is the use of Google Chrome internet browser, if you do not already have this installed on your computer, download it here.

Michael J. Graham, a fellow Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer has quite literally written the book on incorporating Google Apps in the Common Core. This is a must read! Click on the book to be taken to the amazon link.

At times, the sheer amount of programs and ideas available can be overwhelming, to help with this I have compiled some of my favorite resources.

As always, if you know of a resource that I have left off, please feel free to share! I LOVE discovering new resources! While you are here, remember to connect via Google Friend Connect on the Right hand side and also remember to Subscribe to our newsletter!Receive monthly tech tips, exclusive freebies and more sent directly to your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with several amazing secondary Science and Language Arts teachers. I had a great time with them and I learned so much from them. We looked at the logistics of integrating iPads into the classroom and worked with a few individual apps. Embedded below is my presentation. Know of any apps that I'm missing that needed to be added? Let me know in the comments below!

Sweet, sweet summertime! For me, summer is one of those magical times when I plan to cross everything off of my to do list and accomplish something amazing. However, that is not always the case! We have officially been on summer break for one week! And it has flown. My daughter and I, along with some amazing friends took a five hour bus ride to Chicago to visit American Girl Place. We loved it! During our two day visit we rode the Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier, played in the sprinklers at Millennium Park, visited the animals at Lincoln Park Zoo, and did some serious shopping on Michigan Avenue and State Street.

The past week I have accomplished nothing at home or professionally- seriously, nothing! I'm going to post some of my summer plans on here to help keep me on task. Hold me to it, okay!

I've enrolled in my first ever Coursera class: Internet History, Technology, and Security through The University of Michigan. It starts on June 3rd, this is a 14 week class so it will spill into the beginning of the school year. This is a free class, although they just added the option to get a verified certificate for $39.

I've also enrolled in Mapping with Google, a three week course that will enhance my understanding of Google Earth and Maps inside and outside of the classroom

The Google Teacher Academy is now accepting applications for the next session in Chicago. This requires not only an application but a one minute video that has to knock the judges socks off. The pressure is on with this one! I can seriously say this is one of my top three professional goals, if not the top goal. With the application due June 10th I need an idea for the video quick!

I'm enrolled in the INFOhio Building Coach Program and will learn about new resources unique to Ohio and how they will impact teachers implementing the Common Core.

In May, I completed a three week introduction couse to Quality Matters from eTech Ohio- this class gives educators the tools that they need to evaluate online classes and curriculum. I learned so much! Now, I need to decide if I should proceed with the next part of the training and become a course reviewer. It is around $500, and requires a lot of work! I know that I would gain some amazing information but I'm not sure if this is where I should focus my effort. Any thoughts?

I'm facilitating several professional development workshops this summer that I am very much looking forward to- if you are in the area I'd LOVE to see you there! I'm preparing all of the materials, which is a tad overwhelming. I try so hard to make sure that everyone attending will walk away with some amazing information.

Sometimes, I feel that I'm a little bit addicted to learning. I LOVE discovering something new- especially the ideas that once you have heard them you can never look at something the same way again. Is there a job out there that I can be a professional student??? Anyone, Anyone?

What are you summer goals? Any that I should add to my list? Hopefully mid-August I can look back at this list and cross some items off! :-D Happy summer!

I am so excited to be spending the day at the 3rd annual Ohio Goes Google Conference! If you have never been to a Google Summit I highly recommend it! I am lucky enough to have an opportunity to present. :-) Embedded below is my presentation for you to follow along! Be sure to follow the site via Google Friend Connect to stay up to date on all future Googley stuff! I'm so excited to have you here with me today!

Several phenomenal teachers, Technology Tailgate Coaches and bloggers are joining forces for an amazing classroom technology blog hop! As you hop from blog to blog, you will visit some of your favorite blogs and discover a few new blogs too! Each with a fabulous freebie just for you!

Thank you for hopping over!

(Click on the picture to download- you may need to click on the magnifying glass to read)

I have spent hours upon hours upon hours (seriously!) scouring the web for the best web 2.0 tools around. I have compiled this information to create a guide of the best websites and web 2.0 tools around. I created this guide as a reference for myself to be able to find the best tools (and be able to remember the name) when I need it. For each tool or site I have the name, website, description, reasons why I love the tool and the category that it falls into. This has helped me tons of times! When I'm looking for a resource I can just quickly scan the categories and find just the one I'm looking for in seconds. I've been working on this list for well over a year but this is the first time that I have shared it on here. :-) I hope that it is beneficial to you! If you know any other tools that I have missed- please let me know in the comments below!

Have you been to MrsFullenkamp.com? I have many of these links and tools as well as games divided by holiday and subject in a student friendly manner. :-) Check it out!

If you are new to the blog- here are some past technology related freebies. :-)